chicken

Last week Freya Woof attacked Tikka. I was in the front garden with her on a lead as I was gardening. Freya saw a cat and broke our front door as she ran at it so fast her lead bent the door past the right-angle its set to open up at. Anyway in that split second I put her in the front hallway and shut door for that cats sake. I immediately realise the back door is unlocked. Too late, Freya is hunting chickens. I run outside shouting at the dog to stop it, let go, drop. Anything. Nothing worked. Tikka was hanging out of Freya’s mouth, teeth wedged around her, I shout gentle at Freya as I pull Tikka towards me. Freya didn’t let go easily, and I thought Tikka was toast. Both kids came outside whilst this was going on. D was angry I had made a mistake […]

I was a happy bunny when the folk at Play.com contacted me to ask if I wanted a gift from their gardening category. Yes, yes please was my reply. What I picked out might seem dull or boring, but I was about to go and buy similar in town. As I’ve mentioned more than once, pet chickens are organised and efficient garden destroyers. They dig, scratch and peck at things obsessively. The chickens pecked and scratched so much that my lawn edging was shredded, as is most of my garden. We had a cheaper lawn edging like this product on Play. The cheper option is £10 for my bed, or £30 for the better fake stone option I chose.

Over the winter Bart and Mo’s home was badly damaged. The roof bowed and bent under the weight of water in the storms, then sprung a leak. As you know I hate wasting things I was determined to repair not replace this hutch. It was all sound except the roof wood and felt. Luckily the wooden batoning around the roof was not damaged, which meant I could attach a new roof straight on it. I considered buying plywood and felt and doing it the classic bunny hutch way. Nah, too weak! I considered layered planks of wood, shed roof or chicken coop style, too draughty and needs regular varnishing to keep it water tight. Nope! The wood would cost around £20-30 depending on where was purchased.

Tikka the chicken was struggling and lonely since Freya Woof “got” poor Fajita. So yesterday we drove a few miles into the countryside to a farm to get a few more chickens. That was the plan, a few small, cheap chickens. The hens the boys chose were not cheap. I should have said “No way” at the prices, but the boys had decided and I didn’t have the heart to refuse. £35 each!! Ah well, it’s done now.

Today Freya Woof learnt to open the back door handle. Today she did this as I was in the garden feeding our chickens. She got Fajita, and I got to them so fast. I screamed at Freya and lifted my hand (a warning not being mean), she loosened her grip, but didn’t let go. I snatched my poor hen. Freya had her only by feathers at this point, so I inadvertently plucked a few more feathers from Fajita. Both our chickens ran for the house for safety and I got Freya’s collar and walked her to her crate for “time out”. I have kept them separate until this scuffle, and Freya is never allowed in the back garden.

We have two tiny gardens. The back garden is fenced and secure but a mess thanks to the pesky (but cute) chickens. This is the state of the garden, hardly any grass and waterlogged clayish soil. With the current rain it’s boggy out there! The front garden is smaller, and with no fencing but has better drainage and supports a lawn, woohoo. It’s good enough to keep trees alive and happy.

Every now and then one of my sons insist on a silly photo. Today we bought a big stock pot for slow boiling gammon in and D said I should put one of our chickens in it…. So I went and got Fajita. Fajita likes being hugged, chatted to and handled. She even posed sweetly for the photo. And nope, she’s not food, pets are never dinner here.

Thanks to my adorably cute yet really naughty young rabbits I’ve just had to do a bodge job in the garden and break up a rabbit fight in the dark. I’m sure my neighbours are unimpressed with you as well you fluffy little monsters.

Well, after the eBay fuss I bought some catapult latex/elastic straps and searched hedges for a decent stick. Bingo, a windy evening and the next morning I was spoilt for choice. You need there to be a symmetrical Y shape in the wood, if it’s wonky it still works but the aim is all wrong. Sawing the branch into a Y shape. Yes, I know I know, chicken runs are not ideal work benches. You need to cut the “handle” end to be about the length of a brand new pencil, and the two angled branches a little shorter.

I don’t know about everyone else but I’m fed up about hearing about horse meat. Seems like there is horse in everything in our freezers these days. I prefer whole chunks of meat, where you can tell its all from one animal. That said we do buy some processed items like sausages and occasional burgers. Like most families we’ve probably eaten horse. That doesn’t bother me too much, horse is safe to eat and horses are clean animals. I would buy horse meat deliberatly, but what nags at me (sorry) is that I don’t know what meat is in what foods anymore. I am grateful that the scandal is about horse rather than say, road kill or wild rats! I just want the labels to be honest, if something is half beef half horse I’d like it to say so I can decide myself. Seriously, why not eat horse? Most […]

In the last few years Fox attacks are seemingly on the rise. Or at least the number of times the media get hold of these stories is on the rise.The recent BBC news story It seems that foxes are attacking unguarded babies and occasionally sleeping adults. There is a pattern to it from the stories I have read. It’s always in cities, the urban fox rather than the free range variety. It’s often a baby, and it doesn’t bite just anywhere… It goes for limbs. Hands, arms, feet. Not trying to be gross but its like it knows limbs are easier to remove and is that starving that its worth the risks of entering a house for “food”. With the adult attacks it’s similar – biting adults in their sleep. I’ve read about feet, fingers and ears being chewed at. You don’t tend to hear of attacks on say, the […]

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